I have recently replaced my graphics card and installed Fedora 20 over Antergos. When trying to launch a game in the new configuration (the steam package was installed from rpm-fusion-nonfree if that is of any relevance), Portal 1 shows an error on startup, following the 'Preparing to Launch' box:

Could not find required OpenGL entry point 'glColorMaskIndexedEXT' Either your video card is unsupported, or your OpenGL driver needs to be updated

I then searched the forum for solutions and attempted the solution presented here and the message stopped showing on startup. However Portal still does not start.

I then tried to launch Super Meat Boy which showed a fraction of the intro cutscene and subsequently terminated.

Now all of my games show the 'Preparing to launch' box and do nothing afterwards. I am using the nouveau driver for this because it worked in Antergos and the proprietary driver has had severe issues with memory corruption in the past, I did try it in Fedora with the new setup and I ended up having to reinstall it because X just would not start.

The old graphics card was an NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT and the new one is an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 285.

So the only way to solve this is to get a different graphics card? I feel like that shouldn't be a problem as games I didn't buy from Steam continue to work fine (SuperTuxKart and VVVVVV).

Think of it this way: your old graphics card was a GeForce series and if your games worked fine on it, then your best bet is to upgrade the GPU along the GeForce series, rather than using the Qudaro series. The Quadro GPU series is not for gaming and is mainly used for CAD, business applications and anything else not for gaming. Remember this for next time. Good luck!

A friend gave me the Quadro from a spare PC. I tried a GeForce GT 610 from Amazon (for some reason, the card and packaging had ASUS written all over it, although the packaging also said NVIDIA GeForce GT 610).

After installing the new graphics card, the whole operating system became very slow and unreliable as soon as the X server loaded). The mouse pointer was delayed and very laggy to the point of being borderline unusable. I tried inserting and removing the card several times.

Any recommendations? I did find a lot of threads of people discussing AMD and NVIDIA cards and which are better for gaming. The ones I found were very pro-AMD. What would you recommend?

The GT 610 isn't a very good card, so I'm not surprised with your performance. If you are serious about performance, I recommend a card of the GTX series. A GeForce GT series or the Quadro series aren't dedicated gaming drivers. Although, with the performance you get under Linux it seems grossly exaggerated. Do you have the nvidia drivers installed?

I have nouveau and mesa installed simply because they worked with the last card (the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT, which is now broken) and the official NVIDIA drivers have caused serious memory corruption in the past.

Also, regarding the performance I was getting from the new card, it was so slow and unreliable that the mouse was very delayed and sticky and the login screen showed the password as plain text at one point. Once logged in, everything was so sluggish that installing the official drivers would have probably had a 75% chance of crashing the whole operating system.

I have nouveau and mesa installed simply because they worked with the last card (the NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT, which is now broken) and the official NVIDIA drivers have caused serious memory corruption in the past.

Also, regarding the performance I was getting from the new card, it was so slow and unreliable that the mouse was very delayed and sticky and the login screen showed the password as plain text at one point. Once logged in, everything was so sluggish that installing the official drivers would have probably had a 75% chance of crashing the whole operating system.

What do you think about AMD graphics cards?

They could be worse, so I heard. Why not invest in a proper good card, like a GTX 780? By the way, I don't think the open source drivers are any good for Nvidia; you might as well get the prop drivers. I don't know how you can install them on Fedora, so you have to seek external advice for that.

I tried installing the NVIDIA official drivers under the Quadro recently and X refused to even start up until a reinstalled Fedora. That's why I'm using nouveau and mesa.

So what do you think about AMD graphics cards? I really think I'd be better off with one of those based on what I've seen in the forum.

If you aren't new to Linux, you would know that AMD GPUs don't have the best performance on Linux and you would think twice before purchasing them. Out of curiosity, why are you on Fedora? Do you just like the open source stuff? The open source drivers for AMD so I hear are decent. As I said before, Quadro isn't for gaming so the nvidia drivers won't edge with it.

Well I know someone who uses an AMD card with Linux and it's working far better for him than the GT 610 did for me.

I'm on Fedora because it has prompt updates (e.g. when Firefox 28 is released, the package manager won't report 17 to be the latest version), hasn't been involved in privacy scandals and it works with Linux Standard Base (needed for Hamachi). I don't mind about the open-source stuff too much (I got Steam from rpm-fusion-nonfree), I just like graphics drivers that don't cause memory corruption or stop X from starting.

Well I know someone who uses an AMD card with Linux and it's working far better for him than the GT 610 did for me.

I'm on Fedora because it has prompt updates (e.g. when Firefox 28 is released, the package manager won't report 17 to be the latest version), hasn't been involved in privacy scandals and it works with Linux Standard Base (needed for Hamachi). I don't mind about the open-source stuff too much (I got Steam from rpm-fusion-nonfree), I just like graphics drivers that don't cause memory corruption or stop X from starting.

I advise against installing the nvidia drivers directly from Nvidia's website; get them from Fedora's repository if possible. As for AMD, if you want to try them out then by all means.

I have always installed the NVIDIA drivers from RPM Fusion Nonfree. Anyway is there anything to do with wattage or anything I should take into account? I haven't built a computer before and I don't want to knacker anything, particularly the hard disk.

I am no expert on computer building, but if you do not allocate enough power to the GPU then clearly it will underperform. I suggest seeking advice from a computer building forum, sorry I can't help you further. :-/